Sussex runners needed to help fight heart disease

Laura Cartledge

The people of Sussex are being called upon to help The British Heart Foundation fight heart disease.

Blenheim Palace is playing host to a series of running events later this year and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) is urging people to raise funds by running a half marathon, 10km or 2km fun-run around the grounds of one of the UK’s most famous historic houses.

Around 4,500 runners each year put their best foot forward to help raise vital funds for the BHF’s life saving research. Last year, those who took on the challenge helped raise around £250,000, now the charity is calling on local residents to come together to help raise even more by signing up this year.

In a statement the charity said: “Money raised will go towards helping us better understand how to prevent, diagnose and treat heart and circulatory disease, which is the cause of more than a quarter (26 per cent) of all deaths in the UK.

“In the South East alone, we currently fund around £83million of research projects at Oxford University, Southampton University and Reading University.”

The event, on October 1, gives Heart Runners a chance to conquer the grounds of the Blenheim Palace Estate, a route that is packed full of stunning scenery and jaw dropping views.

Leanne Postlethwaite, event organiser at the BHF, said: “Challenging yourself to the Blenheim Palace running event is a fantastic way to support the nation’s heart charity. By taking on this exciting challenge, every step you take will be helping bring us closer to beating heart disease for good. Our research has already helped halve death rates from heart and circulatory disease over the past 50 years, but there is still so much more to be done.

“Over 21,000 people lose their lives to heart and circulatory disease in the South East each year and currently, 936,000 people in the region live with its burden. We urgently need the people of the South East to help us stop heart disease in its tracks and support us in our search for more lifesaving breakthroughs.”

The BHF relies on the generosity of its supporters, through fundraising events like the Blenheim Palace running event, visit bhf.org.uk/blenheim